Interdisciplinary Cognitive & Ecological Neuroscience of Smartphone Behavior Cognition and Neural Dynamics Lab (CNDL), BITS Pilani (Pilani Campus)

The Cognition and Neural Dynamics Lab (CNDL) at BITS Pilani, Pilani campus, invites applications for a PhD / Research Assistant (RA) position to work on ecological cognitive neuroscience and smartphone-related behavior.

The position is suitable for candidates interested in pursuing a PhD as well as those seeking full-time research experience prior to doctoral studies.

About the Lab

The Cognition and Neural Dynamics Lab (CNDL) studies decision-making, attention, learning, and reward processing in naturalistic contexts. A core focus of the lab is understanding smartphone-mediated cognition and behavior using psychophysics and multimodal neurophysiology, with an emphasis on ecological valid experiments.

Research themes and recent work: https://​csndl​-iitd​.github​.io/c…

Research Areas

Smartphone-related cognition and behavior

• Measuring reward landscapes of apps and social media platforms
• Studying predictability, uncertainty, and learning under real-world reward schedules
• Understanding individual differences in susceptibility to smartphone-based rewards

Gaming vs. Gambling

• Behavioral and neural distinctions based on reward statistics and learning dynamics

Cognition in the Classroom

• Attention, engagement, and cognitive load in real educational environments
• Impact of digital devices on learning

Candidates are encouraged to develop their own research questions aligned with these themes over time.

Infrastructure and Training

The lab provides access to state-of-the-art experimental infrastructure, including:
• 64-channel EEG system
• Wearable EEG devices (Muse S, Athena, BrainBit)
• Physiological sensors (Shimmer GSR, EmotiBit)
• OpenBCI Cyton + Daisy systems
• Wearable eye-tracking glasses (Pupil Labs)

The candidate will receive hands-on training in experiment design, data collection, and analysis.

Career Development

This position offers deep training in cognitive neuroscience and experimental methods, opportunities to co-author publications, mentorship for PhD preparation, and exposure to interdisciplinary research spanning neuroscience, engineering, and education.

6 months to 3 years, based on performance and mutual interest.

Rs. ₹50,000 per month (consolidated)

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a relevant discipline.

• GATE qualification is preferred for Bachelor’s degree applicants, but is not mandatory
• Strong familiarity with programming for data analysis (preferably Python)
• Interest in experimental research and willingness to work with human participants

Desirable

• Experience with EEG data collection or analysis
• Exposure to behavioral or psychophysics experiments
• Background in signal processing, statistics, or machine learning
• Experience with web or app development

Interested candidates should apply via the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/n6VzCHefUtyT…

Applications will be evaluated on first come first serve basis, so interested candidates are encouraged to apply at the earliest, preferably before Feb 8.